Tag Archives: email

I get the most bizarre emails and questions every day. I can either get annoyed, or laugh. And to be honest, I choose the latter.

For instance, a lady enquired about a course today and I replied by email, giving the details and asking if she wants me to reserve her place. She replies by telling me: “No, I will go back home the same day”.

What? Really? I have a hotel?

But it has to do with a different frame of reference, a different education and a different culture. What seems ridiculous to me is a perfectly normal assumption to the other person. Like when they tell me they are on their way to Hollywood but need to start somewhere. Or that they are the next big thing on the world’s stage. Hey! I hope so too.

I do have days where I get annoyed because it is one ridiculous question or comment after the other. But luckily most of the time my sense of humour wins the battle and I land up sitting here with tears in my eyes.

If the item protected is a file or a HTML page, a single registration is created. This registration includes the text of the page, if an HTML work, a hash of the registered content, a date/time stamp of when the work was submitted and a My Copyright Number, or MCN, for easy reference.

So when I post a blog, I receive an email which looks like this which shows when, where, what time etc. Clearly I am the author.

I am not suggesting that this is the way to protect your work. I am just sharing because it gives me a little sense of security to believe that there is some proof out there, that I am the author of my work. Anyone interested should research the topic for themselves and weigh up the different options before making a decision.

And if I am wrong, or if you find something better, please let me know!

I am now in my fourth month of blogging and I have decided to capture the experience so far, in the hope that when I look back, perhaps in a year, that I, and the experience, would have matured or altered in some way.

Why did I start in the first place? For one reason and one reason only, to get back into the habit of writing. I had stopped for so many years that I just the thought of writing scared me. I saw blogging as a way to get back into the groove, which meant, writing daily.

Initially I found it difficult to blog every day. I had a million excuses and fifty other things to do. I would stare at my blank screen, read my mail, write a sentence, check my Facebook page, etc. Ad nauseum. I do still do it but less often.

I have learnt that you can skip a day or so, but missing a week diminishes traffic to such an extent that you almost have to start from scratch. Or maybe just when You are a new blogger. Anyway, the discipline that goes with the exercise has been so beneficial. In the beginning I felt that I had to finish my daily post by a certain time. Now it doesn’t matter anymore, as long as I write.

With a bit more writing behind me, I have found that the editing time has decreased somewhat. Initially I would write for thirty minutes and edit for three hours. Now I am less anal about it and to be honest, I really don’t have that kind of time. I have eased up on myself, allowing for the fact that nothing in life is perfect. Anyway, even had I edited one post for twenty hours, I would still not have been satisfied. At some point one has to let go. Put the baby in the crib so to speak. A useful tool that I learnt early on in life is not to start editing until I had finished writing. Editing while writing takes long and is discouraging. Writing should not be a chore.

At first I had difficulty coming up with daily ideas and made use of Digg, Plinky and similar websites. Now, I grab an event or a thought that stood out during the day, and elaborate on it.

Today strangely enough, was different. I had no clue what to say. I turned to my son for ideas.

Typically boy, he replied: “I don’t know Mommy, anything” .

“Please Kyle, just throw words at me, anything that comes into your head”.

I have learnt a load of new skills. From blog building to tagging and publicising on other platforms. The list is endless. And as life would have it, no sooner had I learnt a new skill than I needed it for another area in my life. For once I did not have to waste time asking Google.

I must confess, I do not look for blogs, simply because I don’t have the time. But, when someone likes one of my posts, or comments on it, I take the time to read their About page as well as their latest post. If it appeals to me, I follow the blog via email so that I can read it on my phone at night.

As for my own blogging style, it is not topical, nor am I concerned with current events. I have opened myself up and I blog honestly, about myself. I do refrain from using names when I write about others because I have no intention of offending or hurting them.

I don’t know if my blog is enjoyable, or whether any of it speaks to anyone. What I do know is that if only one person learnt something, laughed at something, or thought about something after I had shared of myself, it is a bonus. Over and above what I had set out to do.

There is a lot I still don’t know about blogging but I know that in time, I will learn. I don’t know what would be considered a good amount of traffic. What is a good hit rate after six months, or a year? But I don’t care about that too much. Like I said, I blog for no other reason than to write. I would be lying though if I said I did not like seeing feet through my cyber heart.

In summary I can say that on the whole, blogging has been richly rewarding to me personally. Not because thousands of people read what I have to say, but because I feel a sense of accomplishment every time I press ‘publish’. I really do. And it is because I did what I love. The reward is even greater on the days that I did not feel like it.